Journalism and Commentary

Read Tom Holland’s top ten places to see remainder of the Roman Empire in twenty-first-century Britain. Hadrian’s Wall The best preserved and most enigmatic legacy of Rome’s frontier policy, this is best appreciated by following the National Trail which leads from Wallsend to Bowness-on-Solway. Failing that, take the car, and be sure not to […]

This article is in response to Dr Jonathan Brown’s article, which can be read here. I fear that Dr Brown is being rather disingenuous in this posting! He must know in his heart of hearts that the reason he and I disagree as to the likely origin of the 5 daily prayers owes […]

Alexander the Great, it goes without saying, was a man not much given to modesty. In 334 BC, as he was preparing to embark on his invasion of Asia, his mother, the sinister witch-queen Olympias, whispered in his ear ‘the secret of his birth’, revealing that he was in fact the son of a god, […]

Tom Holland enjoys three new studies investigating the ruthless kings and gods of ancient Egypt. Read the full article on the Guardian website: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/ancient-egypt-history-myths-legends

A truly great Ashes series leaves a glow in the memory that is forever golden. The greatest of all took place ten years ago, and gripped the nation in a way that cricket has never succeeded in doing so since. The names of the England players who took on as formidable an Australian team as […]

The Vatican is not traditionally known as a hotbed of cricketing talent, so a team in holy orders shouldn’t prove too much for a touring XI of authors from the UK, should it? Not so, as the historian Tom Holland recounts. Read the full article on the BBC website

The summer of 1912 was one of the wettest on record. Month after month, rain lashed the cricket pitches of England. Sydney Barnes, whose 69 wickets came that season at a cost of just over 11 runs each, may have enjoyed the damp conditions – but no one else much did. The cricketers of Australia […]

For historian and hopeless sportsman Tom Holland, cricket meant ‘tedium, interspersed with the odd moment of raw terror’. Until the day he watched Botham’s Ashes heroics and was utterly converted. Read the full article on the Financial Times website

In this extract from The Nightwatchman, historian Tom Holland contends that, amid all the tawdry tattle, it is worth remembering the times Pietersen had us marvelling at his brilliance. Read the full article on the Guardian website